1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus which can receive image data transmitted from a server on a network by wireless communication and display the image data, and a control method for the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A network computing technique has been researched and developed as a new style of computing which uses a network (see, for example, Tristan Richardson, Quentin Stafford-Fraser, Kenneth R. Wood, and Andy Hopper, “Virtual Network Computing”, IEEE Internet Computing, Vol. 2, No. 1, January/February 1998).
According to conventional computing, a user's computer terminal (e.g., a PC) stores various application programs in advance, and uses the application programs by activating them as needed. In contrast to this, network computing implements the operation of downloading application programs to be used from a server apparatus on a network and using them as needed. Using such a network computing system makes it possible to downsize a device by limiting functions required for a computer terminal on the user side.
Various digital devices can connect to a network through wireless communication as can be seen in the recent widespread use of cellular phones which can connect to a network. Such a tendency toward the use of network services through wireless communication is expected to increase in various cases. In order to satisfy user requests to use various kinds of services, it is very important to implement a communication terminal which is very compact and can cope with various services using sophisticated functions like those of a conventional mobile computer.
In a network computing system like that described above, however, a terminal on the user side needs to have a calculating ability for the operation of application programs to be downloaded and used. This is one of the bottlenecks in the miniaturization and weight reduction of a terminal on the user side.
On the other hand, a portable terminal such a cellular phone cannot make full use of the sophisticated graphic function implemented by an application program operating on a desktop (or notebook) personal computer.